Archive for month: February, 2013

A big thanks goes out to The Soccer Store for their very generous donation of brand spanking new football kit. Footballs, bibs, cones, water bottles and much more have been given to United Through Sport who will take the kit out to Ghana with them in June. Kids both on the Mass Participation Programme and those joining the School of Excellence will benefit hugely from this generosity.

More About The Soccer Store
The Soccer Store are the UK’s premier football equipment suppliers. They stock speed and agility training aids, footballs, nets and much more. They only use trusted supply sources such as Diamond Football, Samba Sports, Mitre, Precision Training and Koolpak. Customers include amateur and professional football clubs, youth football clubs, schools, and individuals looking for football gear for personal use.

As a quality football equipment supplier make sure you check them out and buy their kit online from their website.

Volunteer coach, Jordan Palmer, was part of the Ghana Under-18 Women’s Hockey Team that played neighbouring Togo at the National Hockey Stadium in Central Accra this Saturday. Togo, Ghana’s West African neighbours were looking to make a statement by returning home victorious against their more experienced rivals.

The game turned out to be a very one sided affair, the Ghanaians quick passing on the slick astro surface meant that the Togolese players didn’t ever get a chance to stamp their authority into proceedings. Volunteer, Jordan Palmer, marshalled an organised defence and distributed accurate passes out to the Ghanaian wide players that were instrumental in the creation of scoring opportunities. The Ghanaian attackers were in an unforgiving mood. Leading by five goals to nil by the half time interval and then forcing the Togolese goalkeeper to pick the ball out of the goal a further seven times in the second half. Ghana romped to a 12-0 victory with any infrequent Togo attacks being quickly extinguished by the United Through Sport Volunteer and team mates.

For a developing country without a rich heritage in Hockey, Ghana can boast fantastic facilities; the National Hockey Stadium was commissioned by the late President John Atta Mills and completed in 2010 with first class facilities. The National teams are making great progress in the World Rankings. The Men’s team is currently ranked at 37 (of 73) and the Women are also respectably ranked at 31 (of 62). With more foreign coaches coming to aid training of players and coaches alike, United Through Sport Ghana is working closely with the Ghana Hockey Association (GHA) to support a greater number of young Ghanaians to get involved in the sport. We are determined to help Ghana’s National sides at all ages make an impact in International competitions.

Building on the success of 2011′s preparation work and the foundations laid during 2012′s first mission, United Through Sport’s, Bhubesi Pride project, embarked on its second expedition this week to support the development of rugby in ten African countries and see the sport inspire further sustainable community projects.

Our man Richard Bennett leads a team of six members, from various countries, who all have a wealth of experience and understanding of the game. Over the next 6 months, using two 4x4s, they will take important messages to communities all over Africa using the power of sport to bring people together, have fun and teach important life skills to young people. Continued school links between the UK and Africa will also be a key focus for the expedition.

This week the team have been visiting various schools around Ethopia (see photos below) and will be heading south to enter Kenya on the 16th Feb.

Richard Bennett explains more about their first week: “When looking to develop something new in any area, it’s key to work with local, responsible staff that can take up the ‘topic’ and grow or expand ‘it’ sustainably. At United Through Sport, we know the importance of working with local teachers and coaches as well as children in several schools to provide the community here [in Ethiopia] the best opportunity to keep rugby going, and see it as a tool to unite communities!”